GFE 105 march on in NSL as Ushuru keep pace

Peter Musiine (left) of Nairobi City Stars FC contests for ball with Rodgers Ochieng of Ushuru FC during their Kenyan Premier League match at the Ruaraka Stadium on November 4, 2016. The match ended in a barren draw. Photo/Oliver Ananda/www.sportpicha.com

Surprise leaders GFE 105 stretched their perfect National Super League (NSL) run to three games as Ushuru FC claimed a third win on the bounce on Sunday to keep the newcomers in check.

GFE’s 1-0 win over Palos FC was their second away win of the season and against their toughest opponent yet, with their two previous wins coming against sides on the bottom half of the league standings.

It was quite easily the match of the round with Palos at the time top of the table and GFE placed second and both coming off identical 2-1 victories in their previous fixtures.

GFE Head Coach Joshua Obara was full of praise for his players following their latest win and added their strong start is out of ‘pure belief’ in themselves.

“We had a strong midfield and the players showed great character to put up a display like that on away soil. The fans made it very difficult for us so it’s a very important win. They like to play the short passes but we didn’t give them the space. The strategy was to shut them quick and it worked to our advantage,” Obara told Citizen Digital.

Palos had made only two changes from the squad that clipped the high-flying Wazito FC 2-1 away from home with Head Coach Paul Ogai keeping faith in his three-pronged attack comprising of Selemani Manjenga, inform Morven Otinya and Clinton Omondi.

It was only the first time in seven games across the two NSL campaigns they had failed to score as a disciplined GFE side stifled their efforts with hitting the woodwork as close as they came.

Elsewhere, Wazito bounced back with 2-1 win over MOSCA FC to go third as Ushuru FC ensured their bid to return to the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) stayed on the right track with a 2-0 win over Nairobi Stima.

Nairobi City Stars who were relegated alongside Ushuru clinched their first win of the season in emphatic fashion, hammering Agrochemicals 4-0 to shoot six places into eighth on the log.

Vihiga United got their delayed campaign off to a winning start at the Mumias Complex, edging out the visiting Modern Coast Rangers 1-0 courtesy of a Patrick Okulo strike in the second half.

Together with KCB, Vihiga had been promoted to the KPL to take the places of Muhoroni Youth and Sofapaka FC after Football Kenya Federation (FKF) demoted the duo for failing to meet CAF licensing requirements.

FKF’s move was however later nullified by the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) after finding the grading manual used by the federation to be defective.